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A STUDY OF FREUDIAN PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS RELATED TO THE SUICIDE OF THE MAIN CHARACTER IN PAULO COELHO’S VERONIKA DECIDES TO DIE

Year 2022, , 1446 - 1461, 30.09.2022
https://doi.org/10.48070/erciyesakademi.1131365

Abstract

Suicide, one of the most common problems in modern and postmodern societies, is a socio-psychiatric phenomenon existing in every society or culture. In the past, the study of suicide was mainly included in psychiatry; however, with an increasing awareness of some social factors behind suicide, it has now been tackled from a sociological perspective. In the second half of the twentieth century, changes in relationships and lifestyles of modern society began to be more apparent in postmodern culture. Expectations for the future dramatically decline in this period. The notion of absolute nothingness is now clearly seen in every aspect of human life. All these elements affect humans' inner peace and cause physical, mental, and psychological deterioration. Veronika Decides to Die, written by Paulo Coelho in 1998, deals with the psychological journey of a young woman who loses her motivation to live and attempts suicide. Basing on his own life experiences, Coelho, reveals the psychological transformations of the main character Veronika, whose suicide attempt fails. Therefore, both the conflict between life and death and the conflict between self and society are highly significant to analyze some possible reasons for the suicidal behaviors of Veronika. In this respect, this paper intends to analyze the novel from the psychoanalytic perspective of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. The psychological and external motivation behind the suicide attempt will be clarified with theory of life (Eros) and death (Thanatos) instincts, and their relation to id, ego, and superego.

References

  • Barnhart, J. E. (1972). Freud’s pleasure principle and the death urge. The southwestern journal of philosophy, 3(1), 113–120. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43154869.
  • Barry, P. (2002). Beginning theory: An introduction to literary and cultural theory (2nd ed.). Manchester University Press.
  • Blanco, I. M. (2005). The four antinomies of the death instinct. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 86(5), 1463-1476.
  • Calinescu, M. (1987). Five faces of modernity: modernism, avant-garde, decadence, kitsch, postmodernism. Duke University Press.
  • Coelho, P. (2006). Veronika decides to die. Harper Parennial.
  • Fancher, R. E., & Freud, S. (1998). The origin and development of psychoanalysis (with Introduction & Commentary by Raymond E. Fancher) [E-book]. York University.
  • Freud, S. (1955). Beyond the pleasure principle: group psychology, and other works. (Translated Under the General Editorship of James Strachey in Collaboration with Anna Freud, Assisted by Alix Strachey and Alan Tyson). The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, vol.18 1920-1922. London: The Hogarth Press.
  • Freud, S. (1989a). Civilization and its discontents. J. Strachey Ed. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. (Original Work Published 1930)
  • Freud, S. (1989b). The ego and the id. J. Strachey, Ed. (J. Riviere, Trans.). W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. (Original Work Published 1923)
  • Freud, S. & Edmundson, M. (2003). Beyond the pleasure principle and other writings (Trans. A. Phillips, Ed. J. Reddick). Penguin Books.
  • Fromm, E. (1991). The sane society. Routledge. (Original work published 1955)
  • Geçtan, E. (1998). Psikanaliz ve sonrası. Remzi Kitabevi.
  • Hall, C. S. (1954). A primer of Freudian psychology. The World Publishing Company.
  • Herpertz, S. (1995). Self-injurious behaviour: Psychopathological and nosological characteristics in subtypes of self-injurers. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 91(1), 57-68. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600- 0447.1995.tb09743.x
  • Horney, K. (1950). Neurosis and human growth: The struggle toward self-realization. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
  • Lapsley, D. K. & Stey, P. C. (2011). Id, ego, and superego. Encyclopedia of human behavior, 1-9.
  • Lyotard, J. F. (1984). The postmodern condition: a report on knowledge. Theory and history of literature, vol. 10. (Trans. Bennington, G. & Massumi). University of Minnesota Press.
  • Miller, R. D. (1999). Thanatos-eros, being-non being: psychoanalytic-existential connection (MA Thesis). 66. University of Nebraska at Omaha. Retrieved on February 27, 2022.
  • Prakoso, B. S. & Daulay, R. (2020). Behavior changes in Paulo Coelho Veronika decides to die: a psychological approach. Notion: journal of linguistics, literature, and culture, 2(2). 90-95. DOI: http://doi.org/10.12928/notion.v2i2.2880.
  • Rayner, E. (2020). The independent mind in British psychoanalysis (1st ed.). Routledge.
  • Rennison, N. (2015). Freud and psychoanalysis: everything you need to know about id, ego, super-ego and more. The Pocket Essential.
  • Schupper, F. X. (1964). On love and the death-drive (a short anthology from books by Freud). American imago, 21(3/4), 3–10. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26302172
  • Sundari, S. A. J. & Rashila, M. R. (2020). Psychic abnormalities and aberrations in Paulo Coelho’s Veronika decides to die. Shanlax international journal of English, 8(2), 40-45. https://sites.google.com/site/jeltals/archive/5-1/10-existential-depression-a-study-of-artists-psyche-in-paulo-coelho-s-veronika-decides-to-die--d-wilfin-john.
  • Taylor, C. (2004). Modern social imaginaries. Duke University Press.
  • Tuzcuoğlu, N. (1995). Psikanaliz kuramı ve özellikleri. Marmara üniversitesi Atatürk eğitim fakültesi eğitim bilimleri dergisi, 7, 275–285.

PAULO COELHO’NUN VERONİKA ÖLMEK İSTİYOR ROMANINDAKİ ANA KARAKTERİN İNTİHARINA İLİŞKİN FREUDYEN PSİKOLOJİK UNSURLARIN İNCELENMESİ

Year 2022, , 1446 - 1461, 30.09.2022
https://doi.org/10.48070/erciyesakademi.1131365

Abstract

Modern ve postmodern toplumların en yaygın sorunlarından biri olarak kabul edilen intihar, her toplumda veya kültürde var olan sosyo-psikiyatrik bir olgudur. Geçmişte intihar çalışması başlıca psikiyatri alanına girerken; intiharın altında yatan bazı sosyal faktörlerin farkındalığıyla birlikte, artık sosyolojik bir perspektiften de ele alınmaya başlanmıştır. Yirminci yüzyılın ikinci yarısı ile birlikte modern toplum ilişkilerinde ve yaşam tarzlarında meydana gelen değişiklikler postmodern kültürde daha belirgin hale gelmişti. Geleceğe yönelik beklentiler bu dönemde önemli ölçüde azalır. Mutlak hiçlik kavramı artık insan yaşamının her alanında açıkça görülmektedir. Tüm bu unsurlar insanın iç huzurunu etkileyerek fiziksel, zihinsel ve psikolojik bozulmalara neden olur. 1998 yılında Paulo Coelho tarafından yazılan Veronika Ölmek İstiyor adlı roman, yaşam motivasyonunu kaybeden ve intihara teşebbüs eden genç bir kadının psikolojik yolculuğunu konu alıyor. Coelho, kendi yaşam deneyimlerinden yola çıkarak intihar girişimi başarısız olan ana karakter Veronika'nın akıl hastanesinde geçirdiği psikolojik dönüşümleri gözler önüne seriyor. Bu sebeple, hem yaşam ve ölüm arasındaki çatışma hem de benlik ve toplum arasındaki çatışma, Veronika'nın intihar davranışlarının bazı olası nedenlerini analiz etmek için oldukça önemlidir. Bu bağlamda, bu çalışma, romanı psikanalizin kurucusu Sigmund Freud’un psikanalitik bakış açısıyla incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. İntihar girişiminin arkasındaki psikolojik ve dış kaynaklı motivasyon, yaşam (Eros) ve ölüm (Thanatos) içgüdüsü teorisi ve bunun id, ego ve süperego ile ilişkisi ile açıklığa kavuşturulacaktır.

References

  • Barnhart, J. E. (1972). Freud’s pleasure principle and the death urge. The southwestern journal of philosophy, 3(1), 113–120. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43154869.
  • Barry, P. (2002). Beginning theory: An introduction to literary and cultural theory (2nd ed.). Manchester University Press.
  • Blanco, I. M. (2005). The four antinomies of the death instinct. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 86(5), 1463-1476.
  • Calinescu, M. (1987). Five faces of modernity: modernism, avant-garde, decadence, kitsch, postmodernism. Duke University Press.
  • Coelho, P. (2006). Veronika decides to die. Harper Parennial.
  • Fancher, R. E., & Freud, S. (1998). The origin and development of psychoanalysis (with Introduction & Commentary by Raymond E. Fancher) [E-book]. York University.
  • Freud, S. (1955). Beyond the pleasure principle: group psychology, and other works. (Translated Under the General Editorship of James Strachey in Collaboration with Anna Freud, Assisted by Alix Strachey and Alan Tyson). The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, vol.18 1920-1922. London: The Hogarth Press.
  • Freud, S. (1989a). Civilization and its discontents. J. Strachey Ed. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. (Original Work Published 1930)
  • Freud, S. (1989b). The ego and the id. J. Strachey, Ed. (J. Riviere, Trans.). W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. (Original Work Published 1923)
  • Freud, S. & Edmundson, M. (2003). Beyond the pleasure principle and other writings (Trans. A. Phillips, Ed. J. Reddick). Penguin Books.
  • Fromm, E. (1991). The sane society. Routledge. (Original work published 1955)
  • Geçtan, E. (1998). Psikanaliz ve sonrası. Remzi Kitabevi.
  • Hall, C. S. (1954). A primer of Freudian psychology. The World Publishing Company.
  • Herpertz, S. (1995). Self-injurious behaviour: Psychopathological and nosological characteristics in subtypes of self-injurers. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 91(1), 57-68. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600- 0447.1995.tb09743.x
  • Horney, K. (1950). Neurosis and human growth: The struggle toward self-realization. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
  • Lapsley, D. K. & Stey, P. C. (2011). Id, ego, and superego. Encyclopedia of human behavior, 1-9.
  • Lyotard, J. F. (1984). The postmodern condition: a report on knowledge. Theory and history of literature, vol. 10. (Trans. Bennington, G. & Massumi). University of Minnesota Press.
  • Miller, R. D. (1999). Thanatos-eros, being-non being: psychoanalytic-existential connection (MA Thesis). 66. University of Nebraska at Omaha. Retrieved on February 27, 2022.
  • Prakoso, B. S. & Daulay, R. (2020). Behavior changes in Paulo Coelho Veronika decides to die: a psychological approach. Notion: journal of linguistics, literature, and culture, 2(2). 90-95. DOI: http://doi.org/10.12928/notion.v2i2.2880.
  • Rayner, E. (2020). The independent mind in British psychoanalysis (1st ed.). Routledge.
  • Rennison, N. (2015). Freud and psychoanalysis: everything you need to know about id, ego, super-ego and more. The Pocket Essential.
  • Schupper, F. X. (1964). On love and the death-drive (a short anthology from books by Freud). American imago, 21(3/4), 3–10. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26302172
  • Sundari, S. A. J. & Rashila, M. R. (2020). Psychic abnormalities and aberrations in Paulo Coelho’s Veronika decides to die. Shanlax international journal of English, 8(2), 40-45. https://sites.google.com/site/jeltals/archive/5-1/10-existential-depression-a-study-of-artists-psyche-in-paulo-coelho-s-veronika-decides-to-die--d-wilfin-john.
  • Taylor, C. (2004). Modern social imaginaries. Duke University Press.
  • Tuzcuoğlu, N. (1995). Psikanaliz kuramı ve özellikleri. Marmara üniversitesi Atatürk eğitim fakültesi eğitim bilimleri dergisi, 7, 275–285.
There are 25 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Muzaffer Zafer Ayar 0000-0003-4508-2452

Fatmanur Demir 0000-0003-3632-1992

Publication Date September 30, 2022
Submission Date June 15, 2022
Published in Issue Year 2022

Cite

APA Ayar, M. Z., & Demir, F. (2022). A STUDY OF FREUDIAN PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS RELATED TO THE SUICIDE OF THE MAIN CHARACTER IN PAULO COELHO’S VERONIKA DECIDES TO DIE. Erciyes Akademi, 36(3), 1446-1461. https://doi.org/10.48070/erciyesakademi.1131365

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